This is a journal of my vegetable gardens. Skippy was my first dog and he thought the garden was his, even though I did all the work. Now Suzie and Charley follow in his footsteps. We're located near Boston (USDA zone 6A). I have a community plot, a backyard vegetable garden, fruit trees, berry bushes, chickens, and bees. I use sustainable organic methods and do my best to grow all of my family's vegetables myself.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

HOT! habanero chile

I finally got the courage to try one on my garden habanero chiles - described as the hottest chile in the world.

I was warned to wear gloves, but I thought I'd try without first. I sliced the orange chile open and touched the cut edge with my finger and then tasted just a little bit, very carefully, only on the tip of my tongue. Well.... after scrubbing my hands several times with soap, drinking lots of water and washing it down with cheese and bread (and wine), I put baggies on my hands (since I didn't have any gloves) and even wrapped a towel over my face. Those are HOT!!! I will agree - wear gloves!

I was nervous about using them in our dinner. But went ahead and tried.

They were really delicious. But surprisingly, not very hot. I think I could have used at least twice the number of chiles, or added Tabasco or Frank's hot sauce as I usually do. My Anaheims are mild, and this one had a bug problem so I could only use half of it. For both chiles I threw away the seeds.chile and bell peppers (Capsicum)Skippy's vegetable recipes

Monday, September 29, 2008

ideas for next year's garden

I'm starting a list of ideas for next year's vegetable gardens. I'll book mark this list on the sidebar and continue to add to it.

Tomatoes:Use rail and string supportsSpace plants more than this yearPlant as far from the old patch as possibleUse salt marsh hay instead of plastic mulchStart plants in two batches, one 1 week earlier than this year. the other several weeks laterFind a plant light set-up

Other plantsAsparagus patchLeave an area where Skippy can digGarden benchA shade arbor over the benchMove my two pear trees to the plotMore lettuceWrite up a schedule of planting this winter because I always end up with no lettuce mid summer even though I have some good varieties now that grow all summerGrow lots of cucumbers in my shady home garden, none at the sunny plotSame with soybeans and green beansLabel plants betterStore my winter keeper beets in the refrigerator in plastic baggiesTwo plantings of summer squashTry some Chinese greens, pak choy, etc (I am having fun looking into Chinese veggies)Move garlic to full sun at community plot (cloves too small at home)Don't bother with onions from seed again, use sets and purchased seedlings

More ideas:grow a bigger fall crop of carrotsgrow more and bigger varieties of potatoes (can you do a fall planting of potatoes?)grow more onions too (I think I'll buy seedlings next year)keep trying to grow parsnips (plant some in pots to see what seedlings look like)try growing celeriac

Sunday, September 28, 2008

still raining......

I thought the weather was clearing when I went to the plot today. But no! Just as Skippy and I got there, the sky opened up. Skippy was pleased when I grabbed the tarp that covered my lawn mower and propped it up with garden poles. The two of us sat on a towel under it (Skippy is such a clean dog..) and watched the downpour. It lasted about 15 minutes.

After the downpour ended I worked in the drizzle, but Skippy was very glad to stay under the cover. My husband and son came and helped (well they did more work than me and lots more than Skippy). Two more stumps are gone.

Of the 10 stumps we started with, we now have three left to remove. We've removed six (!) and have decided to leave the corner one where it is.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

wet plot

Friday, September 26, 2008

wet garden

Nothing but rain in sight in our forecast. I hope my garden doesn't float away. But then there's not very much left in it anyway.

I have some great kale, which I am really enjoying. A few tomatoes and peppers trickle in. I am just now starting to pick a small planting of green beans. A few fall shell beans are ripening too. I have some odd radish I'll have to hardest and try soon. I have parsley and garlic chives. And my gourds are still growing. I planted a lot of fall greens, lettuce and other things, but its not really growing. (I bet I should have fertilized - I forgot this.) And I also have my four apples ready to pick on the little tree just to the left of this photo. I'm looking forward to eating these.

Fortex green beans

Here's a variety I'll add to my list to grow again next year. Its a green bean called Fortex. As long as a dinner plate (10 inches), stringless, nice vines and best of all really sweet. Delicious.Fabaceae

When dried, these gourds are nearly as tough as plywood... it may take anywhere from 3 months to a year before gourds are completely fry. After picking, set gourds on several layers of newspaper in a warm dry place. Hanging them in a sunny place works well too... don’t put any holes I the gourds at this time or they will rot.

While curing, black, white and gray mold appears. This is a natural part of the drying process.... gourds that become soft or wrinkled should be tossed...

Gourds are completely dry when the seeds rattle inside... scrub with a stainless steel pad in warm soapy water to remove mold. Drill entrance holes for cavity nesting birds, removing the seeds through the hole... Holes should be 1 ¼” for house wrens, 1 ½” for bluebirds, and 2 ½” for purple martins... Add smaller hole at the top for hanging and in the bottom for drainage.

You can custom paint each house or use wood burning tools to decorate... Consider hanging a collection of gourds together for swallows or purple martins.

Here's a quote I found at the same site:

"When the world wearies and society fails to satisfy, There is always the garden." Minnie AumonierDecorative gourds

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

winter cover crop

Ouch - my first mention of the word "winter"....

My cover crop is sprouting. Little bits of green between the wood chips and the garden tools. I pulled my beans and squashes, limed and planted cover seeds last week. I have a mix called "Fall Green Manure Mix" from Johnny's Selected Seeds. As Johnny's writes: "A mix of winter rye, field peas, ryegrass, crimson clover and hairy vetch. The peas, clover and ryegrass will winter kill to provide organic matter and soil cover. The hairy vetch and winter rye will regrow in the spring to provide nutrients for crops to utilize."

Most of my garden areas still have crops growing. I won't clear them until frost. In these areas I'll plant only the hardy winter rye.topic: soil

harvests

These are vegetables I harvested this week. Beet, lettuce and arugula from my plot and tomatoes, kale and an apple from my home garden. How about that apple! My first one.

My kale is delicious now. I'm still eating my spring crop. I pick the newer leaves - not the newest and not the big ones. Very nice in a quick saute with kielbasa. I mixed them with beets, since for one reason or another, I had beets but not beet leaves. I have a fall crop of kale planted out at my community plot but its still very small.

(As an aside, I hate those little holes that show up in tomatoes. Its from the stem of another tomato when you carry a bunch of tomatoes together. I should remove the stems when I pick them.)

root cellar

I am researching root cellars since I lost a whole bagful of big garden beets. There were too many to fit in my refrigerator and I thought these would keep in my basement - but I was wrong :(

Root crops I grow (or would like to) include beets, potatoes, carrots and parsnips. My two bags of potatoes (so far) are keeping fine in my basement. My carrot harvest did fine in the fridge. I only had two gallon bags of these and there are only a few left now. The parsnips never sprouted :( and I'll try again next year.

I will look up the optimum storage temp for these crops and if there is an inexpensive solution for storage. Please let me know if you have information on this topic!

Monday, September 22, 2008

zinnia photos

Sunday, September 21, 2008

chickadees enjoy the last sunflowers of summer

This must be one of the best days of the year for a chickadee. Abundant seeds. Warm sunshine. The chicks are raised and on their own.

This little guy was on the sunflower stems outside my living room window this morning. He didn't mind my camera too much and I got several close shots. He was making quiet chirps as he hopped and gathered seeds.

Today is the last full day of summer - tomorrow at 3:40 pm GMT is the autumnal equinox.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

more work on plot expansion

I'm lucky to have assistance with this project. We've got some gigantic stumps. (6 big ones and 4 or 5 little ones.) Too bad we couldn't just bury a charge of explosive under them, back up and let them blow. Nevertheless, we are making progress. And we'll sleep soundly tonight after all this work.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

thinking about next year already

As Skippy and I walked through the community gardens today, I was thinking about what I'll do with my garden next year. What a great place to do that - 120+ plots to look at. Lots of great ideas.

1. I LOVE this variety of marigolds. I will watch to find seeds for it.

2. I'd like to find a nice garden bench for my plot. A worn and comfortable one. Maybe Skippy could dig a spot underneath in the cool soil....

3. I'd like to build a shade structure. I could sit here and relax.... change my camera lens... watch the birds.... I like this one that is very rustic and natural. Vines could grow up it. The bench could go under it. I should start collecting materials.

4. I'd like to give my peppers and chiles more sun next year. I need to review what vegetables need more sun. My home garden continues to get more and more shady. And, I'd like to start a patch of asparagus. I notice many gardens have asparagus. It does well here.

5. I want to move my white climbing rose to my plot. Also my two espaliered pear trees. And, I keep admiring the Heavenly Blue morning glories. I'm sure I could collect some seeds from other plots. But I wonder if there are already too many growing here. Can one have too much of a fantastic flower?

6. To build a raised bed or not to build a .... I love the look of a raised bed. I'm considering this for next year, if I come across good materials. A simple surface structure. I like the way they avoid soil compaction and define the space.

7. Remove the weeds from the edges of my garden. The photo is sunchoke flowers, which are all around my plot. Beautiful, but at 10 feet tall, they're a very good sunblock. Next year I'd like a nice grassy path between my plot and the wild weeds.

cooked beans

I cooked up my shell beans yesterday. They aren't half as pretty cooked, but they were tasty.

RECIPE: To cook them, I the beans the beans in water 1 hour with 2 carrots, an onion and a bay leaf and then refrigerated overnight. The next evening I sauteed a sliced onion, carrot, garlic and piece of bell pepper in olive oil then added the beans and three oven dried tomatoes and cooked a bit. Then I added some fresh basil leaves.

Monday, September 15, 2008

shell beans

I planted several types of shell beans this year, but was bad about labeling them. I'm not sure what varieties these are. Nevertheless, I like the way all the colors look together.

I am not going to dry these beans, but will eat them fresh, or semi-dry, as they are in the photo. They won't need to cook as long as dry shell beans and are supposed to taste better. We'll see.

Here's a list of all the types of beans I remember planting this year, mostly just small patches of each. And some did not sprout, so all types are not necessarily represented here. Plus I planted some seed that I collected and saved from last year. And it seems to me the big gray beans are some pole bean I bought mid summer and forgot to write down. I don't remember what it would have been.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

fall fields

These are the fields next to our community gardens where Skippy likes to run. Everyday they turn a bit more golden. The white asters just opened this week. The Joe Pye weed and Queen Anne's Lace are turning brown. The monarchs are still here and seem to prefer the asters. The bees like the goldenrod. Some patches of goldenrod are just covered with bees.Rock Meadow Conservation Land, Belmontbutterflies (Lepidoptera)